


A Strategy Card for Relationships

by uofmdragon



Series: Ultimate Spider-man Shorts [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Best Way to Win is by Distracting them, M/M, Poker, Relationship Advice, SHIELD agents giving relationship advice, Top SHIELD agents playing poker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-04 07:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uofmdragon/pseuds/uofmdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Poker Night, except Phil is distracted due to Clint's absence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Strategy Card for Relationships

**Author's Note:**

> Coda to Season 1, Episode 17, _Snow Day_. This fills my 'Poker/Strip Poker' square on my [](http://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/)**trope_bingo** card. 
> 
> Once more beta'd by the wonderful Pyroblaze18.

"So poker night, tonight?" Fury asked as they headed away from where the young team was going through their decontamination shower that was completely not needed.

Coulson hesitated, before agreeing. "Yes."

"We should have a decent crowd then," Fury said.

"Oh?" Coulson asked.

"Sitwell and Carter are back from their op, so they're coming," Fury explained.

"When did they get back?"

"Two days ago," Fury answered. 

Coulson frowned. Carter and Sitwell were acting as handlers/information dealers to the Avengers, so if they had gotten back then that meant Clint was back in town, and the other man hadn't come to see Coulson. It was disconcerting, because Clint would normally show up with injuries in need of patching up, because Clint just wanted to see him and couldn’t be bothered to stop at medical first.

*

Coulson sat around the table with Nick, Maria, Jasper, and Sharon Carter. He kept his face perfectly still as he looked around the table and as he expected, the others were too. All except Jasper who was taking the time to tell them about the latest Avengers exploits. 

"So, I'm a little surprised to see you here," Jasper finished, looking at him as he tossed a few chips into the pot. "Clint is home after all; I figured you two would be off doing couple-y things."

"We had a fight," Phil said with a shrug, considering his options.

"Explains why Tasha was hovering over him," Sharon said.

"Tasha was hovering?" Phil asked, tossing some chips in.

"Mm," Jasper agreed. "In that ‘not hovering’ way she does, which probably means they had a fight about it."

"So what did you fight about?" Nick asked, tossing his own chips in. "Spending too much time with the kids?"

"No, he booby trapped another agent’s locker, with bouncy balls of all things," Phil sighed and shook his head. "He has the maturity of a five year old sometimes."

"This is fight worthy?" Maria asked. "I've heard you chew his ass out for worse things. I'm out by the way." She set her cards down, out of this round of the game.

"He hasn't come back to the apartment since then," Phil admitted, as Jasper raised the stakes. "Which means he's upset with me."

"And you can't make your way to the tower?" Sharon asked, meeting Jasper's raise.

"I can, but..." Phil started, tossing in his chips.

"But what?" Maria asked. "You're a senior agent, don't tell me you're intimidated by that group of overgrown frat boys?"

"I'm not," Phil defended as Nick tossed some chips in, calling Jasper’s raise.

"Then go and talk to him," Maria stated.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Phil pointed out.

"Are you sure about that?" Jasper asked, revealing his hand. Sharon placed her cards on the table face-up with a grin, and Nick folded his cards with a frown. 

Phil also set his cards down and Sharon whooped, collecting the pile of chips. "I told him he was immature for his prank, which he was even if he thought it was a way of defending me..."

"You don't need anyone defending you," Nick stated with a snort.

"Exactly, I told him that and then..." Phil trailed off, before dropping his head with a groan.

"What did you do?" Nick asked. 

"I told him to go to the tower," Phil admitted.

"Which he did," Sitwell pointed out.

"How come he only listens to the orders that we don't want him to listen to?" Maria asked no one in particular.

"Sounds like you need to go talk to him," Nick replied.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Phil agreed, trying to figure out how to fix this. Poker night was a bust and Phil didn't care that he was losing; he needed to figure things out, before his relationship was a bust.


End file.
